A local woman has started a petition asking the state to consider delaying reconstruction of U.S. Highway 2 through the city, but it may be a moot point.

The Montana Department of Transportation is planning on rebuilding the highway from North Hilltop to the Flathead River Bridge late this summer.

“It’s going to hurt businesses like the Nite Owl, Coffee Traders and O’Brien’s,” just to name a few, said resident Shelly Neier. “The town really depends on the tourists and the added revenue to get through the slower months.”

She said she’d like the construction delayed until September.

“I don’t think that’s asking too much,” she said.

But MDT district administrator Ed Toavs said Tuesday morning that there’s been a miscommunication on the project. He said the $3 million-plus plan project will go to bid June 15 and would take about two months to let. That means it would start in mid-to -late August — likely starting with sidewalk and other work. The bulk of the road work would run into September and deeper into the fall, he said.

He said the intent was never to start it in the heart of the tourist season.

City leaders initially said the work would start in July.

But there still are concerns.

On Monday, Montana state Sen. Dee Brown, R-Coram, was critical of the plan. She openly questioned why the state was making 8-foot sidewalks, when there appeared little demand for them, while making the road narrower, with 11-foot lanes.

“Are the students going to walk side-by-side on the way to school?” Brown asked rhetorically.

Brown, who was headed back to Helena after being home on break said she would lobby for a change in the plan.

On Monday, city manager Susan Nicosia told the city council that MDT informed her that they weren’t going to allow any left-handed turns off the highway during construction.

Nicosia said that was untenable.

“That’s not even practical,” Nicosia said.

Even so, the city council approved the MDT’s work and once it’s completed, the city will take responsibility for some the project, including maintaining the sidewalks, though if a large section of the sidewalks deteriorates, the state would do the repair.

Nicosia noted the road does need repairs — the surface is falling apart. The city also has an agreement to take 3,800 cubic yards of the old asphalt from the road that it can grind up and use on its own roads, at no cost to the city.

The city has a meeting with MDT officials on the plan March 13 to further hammer out some details on the project.

Neier said she hopes to get 1,000 signatures, which she’ll then turn over to the city and state officials.

Neier’s online petition is at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/505/465/372/to-postpone-the-construction-of-hilltop-to-the-flathead-river-bridge-till-a-later-date./

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